Variable speed skidding device



Oc 1931- H. DICKINSON 9 VARIABLE SPEED SKiDDING DEVICE Filed July 11, 1929 s Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR blum flzhp Oct. 6,' 193.1. M. H. DICKINSON 3 5,

VARIABLE SPEED SKIDDING DEVICE Filed July 11, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTQRNEYS Filed July 11, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR Wm W Patented Oct. 6, 1931 UNiTTE Y STATES "PA N 532 MERIAN 'H. DICKINSON; or SEATTLE, wasmimron, .Assreuon "re rirnenawoon PACIFIC Germany, or sarcoma; wasnmeroir, 1A. 'CQRPORAZTIGN or ASHINGTON a vaRIi isLE-sP-nm Application file i'July 1.1,

In skidding logs what is known as the overhead interlocking cahleway system, that is, a system in which (the \inhaul and skidding drum, an d the outh a-ul or :rece ding drum, .are locked together and rotated in unison when bringing in the logs, one of the difiicultles present in the system has resulted irom the ng effective diameters the :drum carrying the inhaul eor skidding; cable and that carr-yi-ng the outhau-l or receding cable while 'in operation. YV hen the log 'is' being dragged or drawn from the :tail tower towards the head tower, the cable pi les upon the skidding and .inhaul drum and increases the effective diameter thereof, and paysout .on the outhaul or'receding drum with -a :decrease :in its effective diameter and with a :eorresoondi-ng change in the selatieie e-fi'ectlve d ameters of :the two drums, with the result that there is :a tendency for the ilog to arise :and the rattachii-ig parts therefor to 51am against-the carriage.

My invention has El or-oneofits objects the overcomi-ng ot' the foregoing difliculty,

changing the speeds of both the inhauland the outhaul drums d u-rin g the normal operation andliher ehy providing for a plurality-of changes'of-specd. r

l. nether object of my invent-ion isthe' provision of means by which the logs 'can Joe broken out or brought to a position near the diagrammatic view ill-ustr'alnng an overhead "tai tower withsth'e skiddingdrum operating atrhighzpower andlow-speed. I f

@t-her objects of 'myinVenti-on will appear n the specification and will he more particularly:pointed outinthe claims.

My invention will best be understood by reference to the accompanying era-wings "in which I have illustrated certain embodiments of my invention, and in which Fig 1 is a cablewaxy system operated a steain'engi-ne an d adapted to skid logs to a position underneath the main cable and then 'bring thelogs in from a positionnear thetail'towert'owards the head tower; Fig. 2 is a plan View of the idding engine; Fig-3 is a diagrammatic side View of a portionof Fig.2iand illustrating the manner in which the rope .ipiles. up orrpays out on the respective .Cl'BlllIlSilSIlihG ilog SKIDIJING DEVICE;

1-929. Serial-1T0. 377,421.

is hrought from a positionnearthe tail tower towardsthehead tOW8B,-&I1Cl Fig. 4 'isa plan View of amodified :form of my invention in which the system is operated by an electric motor. Y

Like rezterence characters JIlCllGfltG q-llke parts throughout rthewzlr wings. V s Referring now to the elrawi-ngs, and first to Fig. 1, ,10 isza :mai-n cable attached at (its ends to a head tower l1 and to .a tail tower m 12 by means which are well understoodin the art. A skidding and .i nhaul cable 13 passes over a sheave 14-on-1thel1ead tower and is wound upon a skidding and i-nhaul :drum l5,n-1ounted on the skidding engine which I h are indicated generally at. A. The rotheriend of the cable-13 passesover a sheave l3lattachedtoa carriage .lfi and is provided .at its free end with tongs 132 or other. suitable means by which the :skidd-i-ng and inhaul cable may beattached to a r-logor other device. Theouthaul cable 17 passes ioveinasheave sl8 onthe head tower andis woundon tl1e-out haul orrece'dingdrum 19. the embodiment of my invention illustrated, the outhaul cable V17 passes over sheave 171 which is shown 7 attachedto a stump,xthenceover asheave 1Z2 attached .to the ttailstowelyahe free end of thefouthaul cable heiirgattached to the 'carsriage 1611s .at 113. In the embodiment illus- 811 I trated, a sled: pulling line 20 passes over a sheave aims is Wound upon adrum :22, the opposite end of? the slack pulling cable passing over :a sheave on the carriage as in- .dicated in'l ig. l, haul cable as at 201. i

7 Referring new,particul-arly to Figs. .2 and 3 of the drawings, 23 is a frame on which are mounted the drums 15' and l'9having their hearings at .2-1 and 25, respectively, the 430 drums being mounted side -by side. drums and '19 are loosely mounted upon shafts 141 and 191, r.espectivly,and are slidahie longitudinally oftheir respective shafts.

Agear'26 is fast on the/shaft 14:1 at one end of the drum 15, and a gear 27 which meshes with the gear'26, is fast on its shaft "191 at v the sameendof the drum-1'9. Meshing gears 28 and 29 are loosely mounted-0n the shafts llland .191, respectiwelywa't the otherendsotf and is attached to the inart, and I 'gine the cylinders of which the respective drums and 19. The gear 26 is preferably of approximately the same diameter as that of the gear 27 with which it meshes, but is of smaller diameter than the gear 28 at the opposite end of the drum 15. The gear 27 is preferably larger than the gear 29, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

The drum 15 is provided with suitable friction clutch members 142 and 143 which are mounted on the drum 15. hen the drum 15 is moved towards the gear 26 as viewed in Fig. 2, the friction member 1 12 engages a corresponding friction member on the gear 26. Thereby causing the drum to rotate with the gear 26. The details of such friction clutch members are well understood in the have, therefore, for the sake of simplicity not illustrated such details. Similarly, when the drum 15 is moved in the opposite direction, the friction member 1 13 on the drum engages the corresponding friction member on the gear 28, thereby causing the drum to rotate with the gear 28. The drum 19 is also provided with friction members 192 and 193 which engage the friction members on the gears 27 and 29, respectively, and cause the drum to rotate either with the gear 27 or with the gear 29 in accordance with the direction in which the drum has been moved.

The drums are moved longitudinally of their shafts by suitable members 30 which operate by steam or air, suitably controlled by valves, if desired, or they may be manually operated. The driving mechanism for the drums 15 and 19 is here shown as a shaft 31 having its bearings in the frame 23 of the machine, and in turn driven by a steam en- 7 are illustrated at 32, the connections between the pistons thereof including the piston stems, being illustrated by the dotted line The ends of these connections are attached to crank pins 3 1 on suitable crank discs 35 secured to the shaft 31.

Secured on the shaft 31 are two pinions 36 and 37, the first of which engages the gear 26 and the other of which engages the gear 28.

All of the gears 26, 27, 28, and 29, therefore,

rotate during the operation of the device. Preferably, the pinion 36 is of larger diameter than the pinion 37. An additional gear 38 is mounted loosely on the shaft 31 and engages a gear 39 which is bolted or otherwise secured to the drum 19. A clutch member 10 is splined on the shaft 31 and is movable longitudin ally thereof into frictional engagement with the pinion 38. The clutch is moved longitudinally of the shaft by mechanism incompletely illustrated, but shown somewhat diagrammatically at 11, which causes the pinion 38 to rotate with the clutch member.

The slack pulling drum 22 may be operated by a gear 12 meshing with the gear 27, the drum being slidable along its shaft into engagement with the gear and operable by mechanism not illustrated, as it constitutes no part of my invention.

The operation of the system and of the device embodying my invention, as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, will readily be understood from the foregoing description and is as follows:

In order to break out or skid the logs from outlying positions in the woods to a position underneath or near the main cableway, the outhaul drum 19 is preferably disconnected from both the gears 27 and 39 and held by the band brake, and the drum 15 is forced into frictional engagement with the gear 28 and is thereby actuated by the pinion 37 of comparatively small diameter and the gear 28, thereby breaking out he logs at high power and low speed and bringing them to a position indicated, for example, at- (1). When the log is brought adjacent to the main cableway, then by keeping applied the brake on the drum 19 and operating the skidding and inhaul drum 15 in the inhaul direction, the log is lifted from the ground either partially or wholly, and is then ready to be transferred from the position which it then occupies to a position near the head tower or an intermediate position.

\Vhen the load is at a position near the tail tower as, for example, at position 1), the cable wound on the skidding drum is practically all paid out, and the dianleter of the cable thereon is, therefore, at a minimum as indicated at (1) in Fig. 3, whereas the cable on the outhaul. or receding drum is piled up to a maximum extent as also indicated at (1) in Fig. 3. In the embodiment illustrated, however, the diameter of the skidding and inhaul drum 15 is larger than that of the outhaul drum 19. Now by moving the drums 15 and 19 into frictional engagement with the gears 26 and 27, respectively. the load starts from the position near the tail tower towards; the head tower. During this movement, the cable piles up on the skidding and iuhaul drum to a larger diameter, and pays out on the receding or outhaul drum to a smaller diameter. In order to prevent tl e load from unduly changing its vertical position, I change the relative speeds of the inhaul and the outhaul drums. For example, when the load has reached the position (2) indicated in Fig. 3, and when the relative diameters of the cable wound on the inhaul and the outhaul drums may be about the same as indicated at (2) in Fig. 3, I force the outhaul drum 19 from frictional engagement with the gear 27 into frictional engagement with the gear 29. The drum 15 which is still rotated by the gear 26 rotates at the same speed, but the drum 19, while it is rotated by the pinion 37 through the gear 28 of somewhat smaller diameter than the pinion 36, the gear ratio is such that the drum 19 is at this time rotated at a hi gher rate of speed than at position (1). he interthe gear ratio for the drum 19 is 24: 94c, and the speed ratios for the two drums is 1: 1.

At position (4), the drum is retained in frictional engagement with the gear 26,

whereas the drum 19 is again forced into frictional engagement with the gear 29, so that, while the gear ratio for the drum 15 is still 24: 94, the gear ratio of the drum 19 is 13:83. In other words, the speed of the skidding drum to that of the receding drum is 1.63: 1.

It will be noted, furthermore, that both drums may be operated at relatively high power and low speed through the gears 18, 50, and 19, or at comparatively low power and high speed through the gears 47 and 4:9.

I claim:

1. In combination, a main cable, a carriage mounted thereon and adapted to be moved therealong, a driving member, an inhaul and an outhaul drum on which cables are wound, said cables being connected to and adapted to move said carriage in opposite directions, means for driving said inhaul and outhaul drums in interlocked rela tion in the inhaul direction, and means for changing the speed ratio of said drums while rotating in the inhaul direction by changing the speed of rotation both of said inhaul and of said outhaul drums.

2-. In combination, a main cable, a carriage mounted thereon and adapted to be moved therealong, a driving member, an inhaul and an outhaul drum on which cables are wound, said cables being connected to and adapted to move said carriage in opposite directions, means for driving said inhaul and outhaul drums in interlocked relation in the inhaul direction, and means for progressively changing the speed ratio of said drums while rotating in the inhaul direction by changing the speed of rotation both of said inhaul and of said outhaul drums.

In combination, a main cable, a carriage mounted thereon and adapted to be moved therealong, a driving member, an inhaul and an outhaul drum and their shafts on which drums cables are wound, said cables being connected to and adapted to move said carriage in opposite directions, means-for driving said inhaul and outhaul drums in interlocked relation in the inhaul direction, and means comprising gears mounted at opposite ends of said drums for changing the speed ratio of said drums while rotating in the inhaul direction by changing the speed of rotation both of said inhaul and of said outhaul drums.

driving said inhaul and outhaul drums in interlocked relation in the inhaul. direction, and means comprising first gears fast on their shafts at one end of said drums and second gears loose on their shafts and at the other end of said drums and of different diameters from said first gears, both of said drums being longitudinally movable of their respective shafts into operative relation to the gears at either end, and means for driving said gears.

5. In combination, a main cable, a carriage mounted thereon and adapted to be moved therealong, an inhaul and an outhaul drum on which cables are wound, said cables being connected to and adapted to move said carriage in opposite directions, means for driving said inhaul and outhaul drums in interlocked relation in the inhaul direction, means for changing the speed ratio of said drums while rotating in the inhaul direction by changing the speed of rotation both of said inhaul and of said outhaul drums, and a drive shaft provided with pinions of different diameters for actuatlng the respective gears at the opposite ends of said drums.

6. In a winding engine, a rotatable driving member, an inhaul and an outhaul drum, means for driving said drums in interlocked relation in the inhaul direction, and means for changing the speed ratio of said drums when rotating in the inhaul direction by changing the speed of rotation both of the inhaul and of the outhaul drums.

7. In a winding engine, a skidding and inhaul drum and an outhaul drum, shafts on which said drums are mounted, first gears mounted at one end of said drums, second gears mounted at the other end of said drums and loose on their respective shafts, means for moving said drums longitudinally of their shafts into operative relation with said first or second gears, a drive shaft, pinions of diflerent diameters mounted thereon for actuating said first and second gears respectively whereby the skidding and inhaul drum 

